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Abstract:

A method and system for conferencing a landline telephone into a cellular
telephone call is disclosed. In response to a landline telephone going
off-hook, a cellular telephone corresponding to the landline telephone is
identified. When a determination is made that the corresponding cellular
telephone is currently engaged in a call, the landline telephone is
conferenced into the cellular call. If the cellular telephone is
subsequently disengaged from the call, the original cellular call has
been effectively transferred to the landline telephone. The inventive
method and system may be linked to a cellular-landline conference call
service. For example, a user may subscribe to such a service so that the
user may automatically transfer a call from the user's cellular telephone
to the user's home or office landline telephone when that landline
telephone is taken off-hook.

Claims:

1. A method comprising: a network switch detecting transition of a
landline telephone from an on-hook state to an off-hook state at a time
when a call is not being placed to the landline telephone; responsive to
the detecting, ascertaining, by querying a subscription profile that is
associated with the landline telephone to determine that the subscription
profile includes a subscription to a cellular-landline conference call
service; responsive to the ascertaining, making a determination of
whether the cellular telephone is currently engaged in a call, by
querying call-state data to determine call-state of the cellular
telephone; and responsive to the determination being that the cellular
telephone is currently engaged in a call, engaging in a conferencing
process to conference the landline telephone into the call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the landline telephone is served by the
network switch.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network switch comprises an entity
selected from the group consisting of a public switched telephone network
(PSTN) switch and a private branch exchange (PBX) server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: maintaining the call-state
data at a call-state server; and receiving at the call-state server a
message to notify the call-state server that the cellular telephone is
currently engaged in a call, and responsively updating the call-state
data to indicate that the cellular telephone is currently engaged in a
call.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein engaging in the conferencing process to
conference the landline telephone into the call comprises: engaging in
call signaling to set up a call between the landline telephone and the
cellular telephone, and thereby joining the landline telephone into the
call.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending an alert to the
cellular telephone to provide notice that a conference with the landline
telephone is being invoked.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the alert to the cellular telephone
comprises an announcement audible to a user of the cellular telephone
while the cellular telephone is engaged in the call.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: receiving a message from
the cellular telephone, and responsive to the received message, aborting
the conferencing process.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the landline telephone and the cellular
telephone are co-owned.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: completing the
conferencing process, and then disengaging the cellular telephone from
the call.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting digit dialing by
the landline telephone, and responsive to the digital dialing, aborting
the conferencing process.

12. A service controller comprising: a processor; memory; and machine
language instructions stored in the memory and executable by the
processor: (i) to detect a transition of a landline telephone from an
on-hook state to an off-hook state at a time when no call is being placed
to the landline telephone, (ii) responsive to the detection, to query a
subscription profile that is associated with the landline telephone so as
to ascertain that the subscription profile includes a subscription to a
cellular-landline conference call service, (iii) responsive to the
ascertaining, to query call-state data, and to thereby determine that the
cellular telephone is currently engaged in a call, and (iv) responsive to
determining that the cellular telephone is currently engaged in the call,
to engage in a conferencing process to conference the landline telephone
into the call.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the machine language instructions are
further executable by the processor (i) to maintain call-state data at a
call-state server, (ii) to receive a message notifying the call-state
server that the cellular telephone is currently engaged in the call, and
(iii) responsive to the received message, to update the call-state data
to indicate the cellular telephone is currently engaged in the call.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the machine language instructions are
further executable by the processor to send an alert to the cellular
telephone to provide notice that a conference with the landline telephone
is being invoked.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the alert to the cellular telephone
comprises an announcement audible to a user of the cellular telephone
while the cellular telephone is engaged in the call.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the machine language instructions are
further executable by the processor to receive a message from the
cellular telephone, and responsive to the received message, to abort the
conferencing process.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the machine language instructions are
further executable by the processor to complete the conferencing process,
and then to disengage the cellular telephone from the call.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the machine language instructions are
further executable by the processor to detect digit dialing by the
landline telephone, and responsive to the digital dialing, to abort the
conferencing process.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the landline telephone and the
cellular telephone are co-owned.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the landline telephone is served by a
network switch comprising an entity selected from the group consisting of
a public switched telephone network (PSTN) switch and a private branch
exchange (PBX) server.

Description:

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/750,805,
filed on May 18, 2007, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by
reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to telecommunications, and more
particularly to management of call sessions.

BACKGROUND

[0003] In a basic landline telephone system, a given customer's premises
are connected to a telephone company switching office by a local loop
telephone line, which provides the customer's premises with connectivity
to the public switched telephone network, among possibly other services.
At the customer's premises, the telephone line then may then couple with
a local network that connects the telephone line to numerous telephones
(as well as other telephony equipment such as fax machines, DSL modems,
answering machines, etc.) With this arrangement, the customer can
conveniently engage in a telephone call using any of the telephones at
the customer's premises.

[0004] One benefit of having numerous telephones on the customer premises
network is that a user can readily transfer a call from one customer
premises telephone to another. One way to do so is to simply engage a
"hold" function on the telephone currently in use and then pick up the
call at the other telephone. Another way to do so is to pick up the other
telephone so as to join it into the existing call and to then hang up the
first telephone.

[0005] In advanced PBX systems of the type commonly found in most business
offices, mechanisms are also provided to facilitate transfer of a call
from one telephone to another. In a PBX system, a PBX server typically
connects various customer premises telephones with the public switched
telephone network, through a dedicated circuit connection to each
telephone or over a packet-switched network connection (in an IP PBX
system). To transfer an existing call from one PBX telephone to another,
a user at the first PBX telephone may engage a "transfer" function on the
telephone and dial the extension of the other telephone. The PBX server
may then hold the call (possibly allowing the user to hang up the first
telephone) and may connect the call to the other telephone when a user
answers the other telephone.

[0006] Alternatively, a PBX system may provide a "pick" function that
allows call transfer at the request of the target telephone. In
particular, a user of one telephone may place a call on hold, and a user
of another telephone may then pick up that call by engaging a "pick"
function and dialing the extension of the first telephone. The pick
function makes it easy for a user to move from one telephone to another,
by putting the call on hold at the first telephone and then moving to the
other telephone and picking up the call at the other telephone.

SUMMARY

[0007] While the foregoing mechanisms make it easy for a user to transfer
a call between telephones that are both connected to the same customer
premises network, the mechanisms do not allow for convenient transfer of
calls between telephones that are not part of the same customer premises
network.

[0008] One particular disadvantage of these mechanisms is that they do not
allow for convenient transfer of a call between a cellular telephone and
a landline telephone. Given the widespread popularity of cellular
telephony, it would be especially useful if a user could readily transfer
an ongoing call from a cellular telephone to a landline telephone. In
particular, if a user is engaged in a cellular telephone call and enters
the user's home or office, it would be nice if the user could readily
transfer the ongoing call from the user's cellular telephone to a
landline telephone at that home or office.

[0009] The present invention allows for such a transfer by providing a
mechanism for a user to conference a landline telephone into an existing
cellular telephone call. According to an exemplary embodiment of the
invention, when a user takes a landline telephone off hook (i.e., picks
up the telephone), a switch or other network entity serving the landline
telephone will detect the off-hook status and will responsively invoke a
process of conferencing the landline telephone into an existing cellular
call. The cellular telephone may then be disengaged from the call,
effectively transferring the call from the cellular telephone to the
landline telephone.

[0010] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a network
system will be pre-provisioned with data that correlates the landline
telephone with the cellular telephone, such as by simply correlating the
landline telephone number with the cellular telephone number. When the
user takes the landline telephone off hook, the network system will first
check a subscription profile for the landline telephone to determine
whether a subscription to the present cellular-landline conference call
service is in place.

[0011] If the landline telephone subscribes to the cellular-landline
conference call service, the network system will identify the cellular
telephone corresponding with the landline telephone and will determine
whether the cellular telephone is currently engaged in a call. If so, the
network system will then engage in a process to connect the landline
telephone with the existing call, and perhaps to disconnect the cellular
telephone from the call. As a result, the user who took the landline
telephone off hook can continue the call in which the cellular telephone
was engaged.

[0012] To facilitate the conference call functionality, the network system
may maintain call-state data for tracking the call state of one or more
telephone devices, including the cellular telephone. In practice, the
network system may keep the call-state data up to date by receiving
messages indicating when telephones start and stop calls and updating the
database accordingly. For instance, the network system may receive a
message notifying the network system that the cellular telephone is
currently engaged in a call; the network system may then responsively
update the call state of the cellular telephone in the call-state data to
indicate that the cellular telephone is busy. When the cellular telephone
subsequently disengages from the call, the network system may receive a
similar notification message, and the network system may then
responsively update the call state of the cellular telephone in the
call-state data to indicate that the cellular telephone is idle.

[0013] One potential drawback of this conferencing process is that the
process could enable a user of a landline telephone to participate in a
cellular telephone call without permission or without any knowledge on
the part of the cellular telephone user. To overcome this problem, in a
further aspect of the preferred embodiment, the network system that
carries out the invention can send an alert to the cellular telephone
when the cellular-landline conference call function is being invoked.
This alert could take the form of a distinct tone or recorded voice
announcement audible to the user of the cellular telephone.

[0014] Additionally, this embodiment allows for the user of the cellular
telephone to disallow the conference call. If the user of the cellular
telephone, after hearing the alert, does not want the landline telephone
to participate in the call, the user could send a message to the network
system. (This message could take the form of a feature code dialed by the
user of the cellular telephone, for example.) Responsive to the message,
the network system could abort the call conferencing process.
Alternatively, if the landline telephone had already been conferenced
into the call at the time the network system received the message from
the cellular telephone, the network system could responsively disengage
the landline telephone from the call while leaving the call intact
between the cellular phone and the remote party that was in the call
originally.

[0015] Yet another potential drawback of this process is that, when a user
takes the landline telephone off hook, the user may not want to invoke
the cellular-landline conference call function. Rather, the user may
simply want to place a call with the landline telephone. To account for
this possibility, in another aspect of the preferred embodiment, the
network system may be arranged to detect if a user of the landline
telephone begins dialing a number and to responsively abort the
conferencing process.

[0016] In still a further aspect, the network system that applies this
invention may be arranged to hold off on delivering an initial dial tone
to the landline telephone until the system determines whether or not to
apply the cellular-landline call conferencing process. Thus, when the
user takes the landline telephone off hook, the network system may
quickly make the determination of whether the landline telephone
subscribes to the cellular-landline conference call service. If not, the
network system may then provide the conventional dial tone to the
landline telephone, and the user of the landline telephone may proceed as
normal to place a call. On the other hand, if the network system
determines that the landline telephone subscribes to the
cellular-landline conference call service, then the network system may
provide no dial tone to the landline telephone or may provide the
landline telephone with a distinct dial tone, in either case indicating
to the user of the landline telephone that the inventive process is being
applied. Still at any point during this process, the user of the landline
telephone may abort the conferencing process by simply beginning to dial
an outbound call as described above.

[0017] In one respect, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention
may thus take the form of a call conferencing method. The exemplary
method may include detecting the transition of a landline telephone from
an on-hook state to an off-hook state at a time when a call alert signal
is not being sent to the landline telephone (i.e., when the landline
telephone is not receiving an incoming call). In turn, the method may
responsively involve (i) identifying a cellular telephone corresponding
with the landline telephone and (ii) determining whether the cellular
telephone is currently engaged in a call. Responsive to the determination
that the cellular telephone is currently engaged in a call, the method
may then involve engaging in a process to conference the landline
telephone into the call.

[0018] In another respect, the exemplary embodiment may take the form of a
cellular-landline call conference system. Such a system may include a
landline telephone system operative to serve a landline telephone, and a
cellular telephone system operative to serve a cellular telephone. Such a
system may further include a transport network communicatively linked
with both the landline telephone system and the cellular telephone
system, such that when the cellular telephone is engaged in a call via
the cellular telephone system, the call extends through the transport
network, and when the landline telephone is engaged in a call via the
landline telephone system, the call extends through the transport
network.

[0019] The system may additionally include a service controller containing
conference call application logic, and the conference call application
logic may operate to receive a signal indicating that the landline
telephone transitioned to an off-hook state. The conference call
application logic may responsively operate to recognize that the cellular
telephone corresponds with the landline telephone and to determine
whether the cellular telephone is currently engaged in a call. Responsive
to the determination that the cellular telephone is currently engaged in
a call, the conference call application logic may further operate to
engage in a process to conference the landline telephone into the call.

[0020] In a third aspect, the exemplary embodiment may take the form of a
call conferencing method. This method may include a first switch--serving
a landline telephone--detecting the transition of the landline telephone
from an on-hook state to an off-hook state at a time when the first
switch is not sending a call alert to the landline telephone. The method
may then include the first switch sending a first message to a service
controller, such that the first message indicates the off-hook state of
the landline telephone.

[0021] The method may then involve the service controller responsively
identifying a cellular telephone corresponding with the landline
telephone and determining whether the cellular telephone is currently
engaged in a first call. Responsive to a determination that the cellular
telephone is currently engaged in a first call with a remote party, the
method may further involve the service controller sending a second
message to the first switch, such that the second message directs that a
second call be set up between the landline telephone and the cellular
telephone. Responsive to the second message, the method may then involve
the first switch engaging in call setup signaling with a second switch
that serves the cellular telephone to set up the second call.

[0022] Responsive to the call setup signaling, the method may also involve
the second switch sending a third message to the service controller, the
third message indicating an attempt to set up the second call. In
response to the third message, the service controller may then send a
fourth message to the second switch, with the fourth message instructing
the second switch to join the landline telephone into the first call
between the cellular phone and the remote party. Responsive to the fourth
message, the second switch may then signal to the first switch to
complete the set up of the second call between the cellular telephone and
the landline telephone such that the second call gets joined together
with the first call between the cellular telephone and the remote party.

[0023] These as well as other aspects, advantages and alternatives will
become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the
following detailed description, with reference where appropriate to the
accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024]FIG. 1 shows a simplified block diagram of a network arrangement in
which an embodiment of the invention can be implemented.

[0025]FIG. 2 is a message flow diagram depicting one embodiment of an
exemplary method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary Architecture

[0026] Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows an exemplary network
arrangement in which an embodiment of the invention can be implemented.
Specifically, FIG. 1 shows a typical network arrangement that would
accommodate a telephone call between a cellular telephone and a landline
telephone.

[0027] It should be understood that FIG. 1 and other arrangements
described herein are set forth for purposes of example only. As such,
those skilled in the art will appreciate that other arrangements and
other elements (e.g., machines, interfaces, functions, orders of
functions, etc.) can be used instead, some elements may be added, and
some elements may be omitted altogether. Further, as in most
telecommunications applications, those skilled in the art will appreciate
that many of the elements described herein are functional entities that
may be implemented as discrete or distributed components or in
conjunction with other components, and in any suitable combination and
location. Still further, various functions described herein as being
performed by one or more entities may be carried out by hardware,
firmware and/or software logic. For instance, various functions may be
carried out by a processor executing a set of machine language
instructions stored in memory.

[0028] Cellular telephone 10 communicates over radio access network (RAN)
22. RAN 22 may include a base transceiver station (BTS) 20, a base
station controller (BSC) 18, and a mobile switching center (MSC) 16. BTS
20 may include a cell tower with one or more antennas that radiate to
define an air interface in which cellular telephone 10 can operate. BSC
18 may control BTS 20 and various aspects of air interface communication.
RAN 22 may be controlled by a switching entity such as MSC 16.

[0029] Landline telephone 14 is connected to public switched telephone
network (PTSN) 26 via a switching entity such as service switching point
(SSP) 24, of the type likely to serve a home telephone. In place of SSP
24, or in addition to SSP 24, landline telephone 14 could connect to PTSN
26 via a PBX server, of the type likely to serve an office telephone.
Remote telephone 12 is also connected to PTSN 26. Further, MSC 16 is
connected to PTSN 26 such that cellular telephone 10 can engage in calls
with other entities connected to PTSN 26, such as telephones 12 and 14.

[0030] Both MSC 16 and SSP 24 are connected, via signaling pathways, to a
signaling network comprising a signal transfer point (STP) 28. Signaling
pathways also connect STP 28 to a home location register (HLR) 30, which
contains profile information for cellular telephones, and service control
point (SCP) system 32. Through STP 28, MSC 16 can send messages to and
receive messages from HLR 30 and SCP system 32, and SSP 24 can send
messages to and receive messages from SCP system 32.

[0031] SCP system 32 contains call-state data and subscription data.
Call-state data 34 includes call-state information regarding one or more
telephone devices, and subscription data 36 includes data indicating
correlations between cellular telephones and landlines telephones and
whether those telephones subscribe to the present cellular-landline
conference call service. Subscription data 36 may be populated when a
particular telephone user registers with a service provider and opts to
subscribe to the cellular-landline conference call service.
Alternatively, subscription data 36 may be updated when an existing
telephone user signs up for the cellular-landline conference call
service. SCP system 32 may include whatever processing and memory
components are necessary to access, maintain, and edit call-state data 34
and subscription data 36. Accessing and editing of the data may occur
with the exchange of messages between SCP system 32 and other network
entities, and examples of such messages will be described in detail
below. SCP system 32 may include one or more SCPs that are linked
together.

Basic Call Setup

[0032] When one telephone device connected to PSTN 26 calls another
telephone device connected to PTSN 26, the switches serving the
respective telephone devices engage in call setup signaling to establish
a voice channel over which the two devices can communicate. For instance,
if landline telephone 14 places a call to cellular telephone 10, that
call is routed through switch SSP 24. When a user takes landline
telephone 14 off hook, a circuit is established between landline
telephone 14 and SSP 24. Subsequently, as the user dials digits on
landline telephone 14, SSP 24 detects that digit dialing. SSP 24 sends a
call setup signal to STP 28, and STP 28 intelligently recognizes the
dialed number as corresponding to MSC 16 and routes the signaling from
SSP 24 to MSC 16.

[0033] To set up the call over PTSN 26, SSP 24 may conventionally engage
in SS7 (Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User Part, or "ISUP")
signaling via STP 28 with MSC 16. SSP 24 may first send an ISUP "Initial
Address Message" (IAM) via STP 28 to MSC 16. To acquire profile logic for
cellular telephone 10, MSC 16 may receive a service profile for cellular
telephone 10 from HLR 30, via the STP 28, or MSC 16 may use a previously
stored local copy of that profile. Upon receipt of the ISUP IAM message,
MSC 16 may apply profile logic to determine how the incoming call should
be delivered to cellular telephone 10. For instance, to obtain call
processing guidance, MSC 16 may send a query message via STP 28 to SCP
system 32 or another entity. SCP system 32 may then apply service logic
to decide how the call should be handled and send a call handling
directive via STP 28 to MSC 16. MSC 16 may then carry out that directive.

[0034] In a normal case (absent some contrary directive), MSC 16 may page
cellular telephone 10 over a paging channel on an air interface and may
direct BSC 18 to assign a traffic channel through which cellular
telephone 10 can communicate. When cellular telephone 10 answers the
page, MSC 16 would then reserve a trunk through PTSN 26 for the call and
send an ISUP "Address Complete Message" (ACM) via STP 28 to SSP 24,
indicating the port/trunk reserved. SSP 24 would then connect the call
through to that trunk and send a ringing tone to calling landline
telephone 14. When called cellular telephone 10 answers, MSC 16 would in
turn send an ISUP "Answer Message" (ANM) to SSP 24 to complete call
setup, and the call would then commence.

Maintaining Call State

[0035] According to the inventive process, a landline telephone may be
joined into in an existing cellular telephone call, and the conferencing
process is preferably invoked only when the cellular telephone is engaged
in call. It consumes system resources, like signaling pathways, to
directly query a cellular telephone to determine if that cellular
telephone is busy or idle. Therefore, the process can be implemented more
efficiently if call-state information is centrally maintained by a
network entity other than the cellular telephone itself. Given centrally
maintained call-state information, the network would relay the typical
call-state query (and any response to that query) through fewer network
entities. To facilitate determination of whether cellular telephone 10 is
currently engaged in a call, the call state of cellular telephone 10 is
preferably maintained in call-state data 34 in SCP system 32.

[0036] To maintain the accuracy of call-state data 34, MSC 16 may engage
in signaling with SCP system 32 regarding the call state of cellular
telephone 10. When engaged in any type of call signaling--i.e., call set
up or call release--on behalf of cellular telephone 10, MSC accesses the
profile of cellular telephone 10. If the profile reflects that cellular
telephone 10 subscribes to a cellular-landline conference call service,
this indicates to MSC 16 that SCP system 32 should be kept abreast of the
call state of cellular telephone 10.

[0037] During the set up of a call for cellular telephone 10, MSC 16
signals to SCP system 32 to indicate that cellular telephone 10 is now
busy. SCP system 32 receives the message, which could take the form of an
IS-771 ANLYZD message for instance, via STP 28. Responsive to the
message, SCP system 32 may update call-state data 34 so that the call
state of cellular telephone 10 is recorded as "busy." SCP system 32 may
send a message to MSC 16 confirming that the call-state data has been
updated, and this message could take the form of an IS-771 anlyzd_rr.

[0038] When a call in which cellular telephone 10 is engaged ends, MSC 16
either sends a release message to another network entity (such as another
switch) or acknowledges the receipt of a release message. Again, the
profile of cellular telephone 10 will reflect that SCP system 32 should
be notified that the call has been released and the call state of
cellular telephone 10 has changed. Accordingly, MSC 16 may send a
message, perhaps another IS-771 ANLYZD message, to SCP system 32 to
indicate that cellular telephone 10 is now idle. SCP system 32 may
responsively update call-state data 34 to indicate that the call state of
cellular telephone 10 is "idle." This update may be confirmed by a
message, which could take the form of another IS-771 anlyzd_rr message,
from SCP system 32 to MSC 16.

Exemplary Operation

[0039]FIG. 2 is a message flow diagram showing an exemplary method,
although FIG. 2 should not be taken as limiting the invention. The
entities sending and receiving messages in FIG. 2 correspond to the
entities with like reference numerals shown in FIG. 1. Messages could be
added, deleted, combined, or changed without departing from the true
scope and spirit of the invention.

[0040] This process begins with the assumption that cellular telephone 10
is engaged in a call 100 with remote party 12 and that the system has
maintained call-state data 34 as described above. At step 102, landline
telephone 14 is taken off hook, and SSP 24 detects the off-hook
transition. When landline telephone 14 is taken off hook, this transition
is not in response to a call alert, such as landline telephone 14
ringing. At step 104, SSP 24 responsively indicates the off-hook status
of landline telephone 14 in a message to SCP system 32. In response to
the message at step 104, SCP system 32 queries subscription data 36 to
determine (i) that landline telephone 14 subscribes to the
cellular-landline conference call service and (ii) that cellular
telephone 10 is the corresponding cellular telephone line for the
service. After determining that cellular telephone 10 corresponds to
landline telephone 14, SCP system 32 queries call-state data 36 to
determine that cellular telephone 10 is busy.

[0041] At this point, SCP system 32 has established that the situation is
ripe for conferencing landline telephone 14 into call 100. Therefore at
step 106, SCP system 32 sends a message to SSP 24, directing SSP 24 to
initiate a call to cellular telephone 10. SSP 24 responsively engages in
call set up signaling at step 108 with MSC 16. As described above, this
call setup signaling may take the form of the SSP 24 sending an ISUP IAM
message to MSC 16.

[0042] Profile logic from the profile of cellular telephone 10 may direct
MSC 16 to query SCP system 32 for call treatment instructions upon
receipt of an ISUP IAM message for a call to cellular telephone 10. At
step 110, MSC 16 therefore sends a message to SCP system 32 indicating
that cellular telephone 10 is receiving a call from landline telephone 14
and requesting call treatment instructions. This message could take the
form of an IS-771 T BUSY message. Upon receipt of the message, SCP system
32 accesses subscription data 36 to determine that landline telephone 14
and cellular telephone 10 subscribe to the cellular-landline conference
call service and that those two numbers correspond to each other.
Responsive to those determinations, SCP system 32 then sends a message to
MSC 16 at step 112 directing that landline telephone 14 be joined into
the current call of cellular telephone 10. This message could be an
IS-771 t_busy_rr_message.

[0043] To conference landline telephone 14 into call 100, MSC 16 again
engages in further call setup signaling with SSP 24 at step 114. For
instance, MSC 16 may send ISUP ACM and ANM messages to SSP 24. Step 114
results in a call 116 being established between cellular telephone 10 and
landline telephone 14. Call 116 and call 100 are simultaneously connected
to cellular telephone 10, creating a three-way call between remote
telephone 12, cellular telephone 10, and landline telephone 14. In a
preferred embodiment, cellular telephone 10 is automatically disengaged
from the call, resulting in a call 118 between remote telephone 12 and
landline telephone 14. Alternatively, the user of cellular telephone 10
could hang up to cause a transition to call 118. With the disengagement
of cellular telephone 10, call 100 is effectively transferred from
cellular telephone 10 to landline telephone 14.

Exemplary Alternatives

[0044] If the entire process to conference a landline telephone into a
cellular telephone call is automatic, there exists the possibility that
landline telephone 14 could participate in the call of cellular telephone
10 without the knowledge or consent of the user of cellular telephone 10.
Therefore, in an alternate embodiment of the invention, in response to
the message at step 112 directing that landline telephone 14 be joined to
the call, MSC 16 may send an alert to cellular telephone 10 while
engaging in setup signaling at step 114 for the conference call. This
alert could take the form of an SMS message, a distinct audible tone, or
even a voice recording announcing to the user of cellular telephone 10
that landline telephone 14 is joining the call. The alert notifies the
user of cellular telephone 10 of a conference call.

[0045] Should the user of cellular telephone 10 want to disallow the
conference call with landline telephone 14, the user of cellular
telephone 10 may hang up and end the call. However, another alternate
embodiment allows the user of cellular telephone to refuse the conference
call without ending call 100. In response to the alert of the conference
call, cellular telephone 10 can send a message to MSC 16 to abort the
conference. For instance, the user may send an abort message by dialing a
feature code on cellular telephone 10. Responsive to the abort message
from cellular telephone 10, MSC 16 may signal to SSP 24 either to abort
the call setup of step 114 or to end call 116 if the abort message was
received after call 116 was connected.

[0046] Another alternate embodiment accounts for the possibility that the
user of landline telephone 14 takes the telephone off hook to place a
call normally, rather than to conference into the current call of
cellular telephone 10. If SSP 24 detects digit dialing from landline
telephone 14, SSP 24 may responsively signal to SCP system 32 or to MSC
16 to abort the conferencing process. This detecting and aborting
functionality could be supported up until the point when landline
telephone 14 is conferenced into call 100. Alternatively, this
functionality could be supported only until an alert of the conference
call is sent to cellular telephone 10, to avoid the confusion of
announcing a conference call that is never connected.

[0047] Several alternate embodiments involve the switch that serves the
landline telephone indicating to the user of the landline telephone that
the conferencing process is being invoked. For example, SSP 24 may vary
the dial tone provided to landline telephone 14 according to the progress
of the conferencing process. First, SSP 24 may withhold an initial dial
tone from landline telephone 14 to indicate to the user of landline
telephone 14 that the inventive process is being applied. (If, at step
106, SCP system 32 processes the message about the off-hook status of
landline telephone 14 and makes the determination that landline telephone
14 does not subscribe to the cellular-landline conference call service,
SSP 24 could then deliver a normal dial tone to landline telephone 14.)
Second, SSP 24 may provide landline telephone 14 with a distinct dial
tone during the interval between step 106, when the conferencing process
begins, and call 116, when the conference call is established. Both of
these embodiments enable the user of the landline telephone to
conveniently abort the conferencing process by simply beginning to dial
an outbound call as described above.

[0048] One potential problem with the inventive process is that the call
setup signaling at step 108 between SSP 24 and MSC 16 does not
distinguish a dialed call from an automatically initiated conference
call. For instance, the user of landline telephone 14 may want to
normally initiate a call with cellular telephone 10 (i.e., the user of
landline telephone 14 dials the number of cellular telephone 10) at a
time when cellular telephone 10 is engaged in a call. According to the
process as described in the exemplary operation section above, that
dialed call would be joined into call 100 even though neither the user of
cellular telephone 10 nor the user of landline telephone 14 intended to
invoke the conferencing function.

[0049] To avoid this problem in accordance with an alternate embodiment of
the invention, SCP system 32 may set a flag within subscription data 36
upon receipt of the off-hook status message at step 104. This flag is
associated with landline telephone 14 and cellular telephone 10 and
indicates that landline telephone 14 initiated the conferencing process
by going off hook. When SCP system 32 subsequently receives the message
at step 110 indicating that landline telephone 14 called cellular
telephone 10, SCP system 32 may then access subscription data 36 as
described above. However, only if the flag associated with the two
telephone lines had been set would SCP system 32 send the message at step
112 indicating that landline telephone 14 should be joined into the
existing call. Without that flag having been set, SCP system 32 would
send instructions for MSC 16 to treat the incoming call from landline
telephone 14 normally--i.e., MSC 16 could send a call waiting alert to
cellular telephone 10 or send the incoming call into voicemail associated
with cellular telephone 10. The flag would be reset when the conferencing
process is completed or is otherwise ended so that subsequent calls
involving landline telephone 14 could be handled properly.

[0050] (Alternately, the flag may indicate that the cellular telephone
number has been dialed. In that case, only if the flag had not been set
would SCP system 32 send the message at step 112 indicating that landline
telephone 14 should be joined into the existing call. Correspondingly,
SCP system 32 would send instructions for MSC 16 to treat the incoming
call normally if the flag had been set, and the flag would be reset upon
completion of normal treatment of the dialed call.)

[0051] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described
above. Those skilled in the art will understand, however, that changes
and modifications may be made to the embodiments described without
departing from the true scope and spirit of the present invention, which
is defined by the claims.